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New Leader for Rent Guidelines Board

By David W. Chen February 26, 2010 2:05 pmFebruary 26, 2010 2:05 pm

Opting for a familiar face to navigate one of the most contentious processes in city government, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Friday that he had elevated a member of the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, Jonathan L. Kimmel, to be its chairman.

Each spring, following a series of typically heated and theatrical public hearings, the nine-member board determines how much rents go up for the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments. Mr. Kimmel’s job, as chairman, will be to maintain some semblance of order — a job that tenants and landlords have often said is thankless.

Mr. Kimmel, who has served on the board since 2006, replaces Marvin L. Markus, who resigned in January after an eight-year stint. Mr. Markus, an executive with Goldman Sachs, had been a polarizing figure for tenant advocates, who derided him as “Marvin Markup” for regularly pushing through rent increases that advocates contended were too steep.

Mr. Kimmel, a lawyer, has generally sided against the two tenant members of the board. He previously served as a member of the New York City Residential Mortgage Insurance Corporation, legal director of the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York and a public school teacher.

In the good years, the tenants ask for lower than market increases. In the bad years, they ask for market increases. In aggregate, they get way below market increases. This is not fair — it is not stabilzation, it is subsidization.

Since rents have gone down, they will have more apts to choose from if they choose to move. Otherwise they are still getting an insane deal.

Bloomberg giving the ol’ shaft to the middle class again! Like his cronies on Wall St. really know what it’s like to be part of the 90% supporting the 1% that Bloomberg puts into the RGB. Unbelievable!

These “guaranteed” yearly increases to NYC landlords only worsen the inflation problem in the City.

I wonder if an employer will give an automatic pay raise of 3-4% for two years, or 1-2% raise, for one year. If not, then where is the landlord’s much-earned, much-deserved, and government-guaranteed rent increase going to come from?

One solution may be to guarantee employees a pay increase at the same time that their rent is increased. You take the rent increase letter to your employer, and voila, you automatically get a similar increase in your salary. And, if you’re living on public assistance, there would be an automatic rise in the housing allowance to cover the increased costs.

Oh, we couldn’t do that? Oh, that wouldn’t work? Why wouldn’t it work? We’re already guaranteeing a “raise” or “increase” to one segment of the economy – are we to now deny the same guarantees to other segments?

Like I said, these guaranteed increases are a large part of the inflation problem in New York City.

Here’s hoping that Mr. Kimmel will have the courage to stand up against political pressure and do the right thing: accelerate the process of de-stabilizing more apartments. It is only fair since market rate renters have borne all of the wild gyrations of a housing market that has been artificially constricted by rent regulation. By putting more apartment units in-play on the open market, downward pressure will be placed on all rental units, thereby making housing more affordable for EVERYONE, and not just those who were lucky enough to hit the rent stabilized lotto.

if you are an LL then you should be calling for an increase of at least 3-4% on two years,1-2% on one.

Yes, so funny how renters just last year had to pay 4.5% or $45, whichever is greater or 8.5% for a two-year lease. Year before that? 5.75% for a 2 year lease. Year before that? 7.25% for a 2 year lease.
Nice spread the landlords make of about double the rate of their cost increases and inflation combined! I would love a 3% increase on a 2 year lease renewal. Renters have not had that for over 15 years. So, yes absolutely, let’s get a 3% rent increase for a 2 year lease. I’d be thrilled!

3. February 26, 2010 5:15 pm Link
“In the good years, the tenants ask for lower than market increases. In the bad years, they ask for market increases. In aggregate, they get way below market increases. This is not fair — it is not stabilzation, it is subsidization.”
Yes, we ask for things. What do we get? Nothing of what we ask for! Two entirely different things! So how is this subsidization? Given the way landlords have been able to illegally destabilize apts. and have had ample lease renewal increase rates, it is clearly the renters who have been subsidizing landlords.

“It is only fair since market rate renters have borne all of the wild gyrations of a housing market that has been artificially constricted by rent regulation. ”
Market rate renters have not “borne” anything. They have simply been paying too much for over-inflated rents. Now that the economy has tanked, your overpriced luxury apts. are now all empty. And instead of taking a lower price, I see landlords waiting for Jesus to come back walking on water to deliver the same overpriced rents as in 2007. You’re right about the “artificial,” though. This has been a completely artificially inflated market. Rent stabilized tenants such as myself who take care of their apartments deserve to be protected from the destructive, run-you-over-is-my-full-time-job greed that has wreaked havoc on our current society.

If you and Mr. Kimmel haven’t noticed, due to the consistent erosion of rent stabilized rights, people and businesses are simply LEAVING NEW YORK rather than putting up with what is now a shell of an amusement park for the rich.

This note may be on an old article, but I hope someone with some sense see’s it.

Out here in Berkeley California we elect our Rent Stabilization Board Commissioners. And they provide for reasonable rent increases, like 1-2% check it out yourself, why do y’all let the rich tell you how much cake you get to eat? //www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=8870

The real problem of rent excesses in New York City is the Human Resources Administration paying top dollar to slumlords, raising the prices of what would otherwise be affordable housing. In the Bronx, a slumlord is paid over $1,100 for a 500-square foot “one-bedroom” apartment in a crumbling building with numerous violations and no elevator. If the City would stop paying our tax money like this, then the market could become fair again. The HASA (HIV/AIDS Services Administration) division of HRA is the worst.

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